Resonating with the World
by ERDG-Fiji
Summary: Beer, sake and salted squid, join us! Where Yuuko owns a Burlesque Bar and in the midst of this most eccentric setting lies a secret behind each person that has visited Yuuko, but no secret is greater than the one which hangs on Watanuki and that person..
1. Watanuki Kimihiro vs Yuuko, Act I

**Disclaimer:** I do not own xxxholic or any of its characters. This is a fan made story intended for fun.

Beer, sake, wine and salted squid, join us! In which Yuuko owns a Burlesque Bar, Watanuki is a bar tender, and in the midst of this most eccentric setting lies a secret behind each person that has visited Yuuko-san…but no secret is greater than the one which hangs on Watanuki's past…a secret that has and will change the lives and future of people who will cross paths with him. Especially that person…and those people…

For now though, Watanuki was worried about one thing and one thing only...

-'Boxes…' he grumbled miserably. 'Batons…half ragged kimonos…feather boas…pins, combs…katanas…treasure chests…this. Is. Hope. Less….in all. This…mess…' his brow quivered dangerously, the vein at his temple pulsing with more vigor as his voice gradually augmented octaves into an orchestrated crescendo. 'HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND YUUKO SAN'S FAN!'

The pile of objects he had been carelessly mounting to his right side shuddered before tumbling down over Watanuki, burying him under jumbles of exotic artifacts. His screams had been too much of a catalyst.

-'Mistress's fan!'

-'Mistress's fan!'

A chorus of childish chanting echoed through the room. He heaved a sigh. Even if he couldn't see through the mound of junk, he could tell that Moro and Maru had found the fan and therefore, making all his pain and efforts turn into meaningless ashes.

He pushed aside the box that had crashed over his head, looking down at himself. It was a miracle none of Yuuko's junk hadn't killed him…yet.

-'There are no such things as miracles or coincidences, only the inevitable or fate,' a voice droned on lazily.

He coughed hard as clouds of smoke drowned the room in a daze of mist. He tried waving it away with a flailing hand; it failed miserably.

-'Would you quit smoking that thing in doors…' he muttered, freeing himself from the last kimono and coming to a stand.

As always, Yuuko was in an indecent posture. Elegant, refined…

-'But totally indecent!' he accused, pointing a finger at the falling kimono, revealing a bare shoulder and shifting to point at her nude leg propped against the door frame, tip toes caressing it with what he thought was longing. He shuddered and coughed as she exhaled another cloud of white smoke from her wooden Kiseru pipe in his general direction.

-'It can't be helped,' was her only defense. With a mischievous smile, she added: 'You failed to find my fan, that's quite rare…'

-'Watanuki failed! Watanuki failed!' the two little girls intoned, running circles with the gigantic, peacock fan propped up over their heads.

-'THAT IS UNECESSARY!' he yelled, shaking his fist.

-'Wah! Watanuki is angry with defeat…so rude…' Yuuko whispered loudly in a fake conspiratorial voice.

-'Rude Wata-Wata! Rude Wata-Wata!'

-'WHAT'S WITH THE NICKNAMES!?' He turned away, doing the best he could to ignore their snickering, to tidy the room up. 'By the way, shouldn't you be getting ready? The show is going to start in an hour…' he asked nonchalantly, glancing back at Yuuko.

She gave him her most sage-like smile, walking towards him with graceful steps, feet bare and silent against the wooden floors. It was like watching smoke undulate over still water. Entrancing…a reminder to why she was the most famed Burlesque Dancer in the underground city. A sorceress of men…that was from where she had gotten her nickname: the Witch.

She cupped his still face with her empty hand, between her index and thumb and said:

-'I want to eat tamagoyaki and salted squid for my midnight snack tonight,' she whispered in his ear.

-'You…you…YOU TRICKSTER!' he accused, crawling away from her.

-'Haha! You make such weird movements!' she laughed, pointing at him like a child before walking out of the 'treasure room' flanked by Moro and Maru, still carrying the huge fan. He could hear them still chanting. 'Weird Wata! Weird Wata!'

-'Troublesome…ego centric witch…'

-'Oh, and don't forget the sake!' he heard her call from down the hall, 'as payment for calling me a witch!'

How was it possible for her to hear everything?! He shook his fist in frustration but refrained from giving her a scathing reply, if only to not make his punishment worse. Instead, he turned back towards the small mess of objects and continued his tedious task of placing them back in their random spots. Someday, he would have to re-organize this…

He stared around after he was done. Lingerie and extravagant kimonos seemed to take up much space, but if one looked closely, passed the normalcy of the room as storage for fancy dresses, it was obvious that some things were down right peculiar. Antics were his best guess. But, even the room gave off a funny feel, like waves of energy, both ensnaring and foreboding.

He shook his head and sighed. He was always like this, daydreaming and seeing things that weren't really there. A vivid imagination was what everyone said. Everyone, except Yuuko-san. Then again, Yuuko san was, in a nut shell, insane. Her opinions, therefore, couldn't be given the same caliber of certainty as a…normal person. But what was normal in this World? Not the miserable people that went day in and day out dragging along a burden of unfulfilled wishes over their shoulders. Not the people with fake smiles and well crafted masks.

Then who? Who could tell him what he really was?

He shook his head. He shouldn't be having these thoughts, they only weighted him down. And plus, even through Yuuko-san's greediness and capricious nature, he couldn't turn a blind eye to the affection and help she had given him.

He had been alone for so long after his parent's death, that the misfortune which had caused his meeting Yuuko-san, and therefore, becoming her slave, had been a sort of blessing. He remembered it with a sort of masochistic fondness if anything.

He had broken what she had called her 'most precious vase', which she had been searching for for ages. 'The Daffodil Jug', named for its beautifully painted walls depicting a river crested with giant daffodils. He didn't know how he had ended up in the old 'Jack of all Trades' Shinto shrine, but, he had been there, in half a daze as always and had accidentally bumped into her newly purchased jug.

'_That cost me a fortune,' _she had whined, half crying over the broken pieces. Now he knew they had been fake tears, but back then, it had caused him much misery and he had stupidly said the catalyst words. The words one should never speak, even to a beautiful lady in distress.

'_I'll do anything to repay you.' _That's when she had looked up at him with that sage, all knowing smile and said: _'One should never say "I'll do anything". But, it can't be helped.'_ And she had smiled mischievously. _'Your name?'_

'_Watanuki Kimihiro…'_

'_Birthday?'_

'_April…April 1__st__.'_

'_So willing to serve already. Watanuki Kimihiro, as repayement for breaking my jug, you will work for me until you have covered the costs. Not more and not less.'_

Of course, he had nodded in agreement, still trapped in his daze. But, that was the first time…after the old shop keeper had noted how much of a coincidence it was that she should have met a young capable man when she had been asking for an assistant for a long time, he had heard her say:

'_There are no such things as coincidences or accidents, only the inevitable.'_

He still wondered what she had meant by that. It had seemed to have a deeper meaning than just the chance meeting between a job hunter and a job offerer.

He sighed again. He had gotten himself into this mess. Following stupid butterflies…now he remembered, it had been that azure butterfly in the midst of winter, fluttering around innocently. It had caught his eye and he had followed it, right into his doom.

-'And now…I'm shamelessly working in a Burlesque bar…serving perverted drunkards…' he moaned, trailing his feet over the wooden hallway as he made his way towards his room.

A surprised gasp escaped his lips as he caught a glimpse of the old grandfather clock.

-'It's already this late!' he yelped, making frantic hand gestures as he now rushed to his room. 'I need to be ready! The clients will be here any minute!'

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-'It's time now, isn't it…' Yuuko muttered thoughtfully to Maru and Moro.

The two young girls nodded, helping their Mistress into her kimono.

She placed a hand on each of their heads. One child with short blue hair and one with long pink curls; one couldn't be without the other…that thought made her smile knowingly. But she was no longer thinking about the two girls in front of her. No, it was her other assistant who came to mind.

-'Yes, that time has come, hasn't it…Clow?'

She walked to her dressing table, and pulled one of her earrings off, placing it into a fitting keyhole and unlocking the drawer. She pulled out a framed picture of a man dressed in a traditional hakama and haori, sporting short black hair and stoic brown eyes, arms crossed over his chest, a bow resting on the ground beside him.

-'You said you would help, didn't you Haruka Doumeki.' Her fingers played mindlessly over the gold frame and her maroon eyes shined with mischievous intent. 'And a promise is a promise.'

To be continued…

**Author's note:** Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my fic.

If you enjoyed it, please let me know, reviews are always nice.

Thank you for reading.


	2. Reed Enterprises vs Clow & Co, Act II

Burlesque 2:

**Disclaimer: **Neither xxxholic nor Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles nor Naruto belong to me. They are solely from CLAMP and Masashi Kishimoto respectively.

**Chapter 2: **Fei Reed Enterprises and Clow & Co.

Night had fallen over Tokyo city.

On the last floor of 'Fei Reed Enterprises', a man, tall with broad shoulders stood at the edge of the World. His World, he thought.

The glass pane that separated him from the city below felt thin beneath his coarse hand, and yet, he knew he couldn't break through it because, even if something looked fragile, it hid many surprises beneath itself. It was shock proof glass of the best quality.

The city below alighted with millions of lights. Advertisement panels flashed neon over the spider webbing of tall buildings. But no building was taller than his, except…

He smiled knowingly, brows furrowed in thoughtful malice.

-'Clow & Co.,' he said, testing the words in his mouth, marveling at the way they awakened a sense of dutiful spite in his mind's eye.

He kept staring down at the city, even when three knocks resonated through his office.

-'Come in.'

The door was quite as it slid open, the footsteps from his agent muffled against the thick carpeting of the office as he came to stand at the center of the room, his black suit monotonous against the dark backdrop.

-'What news do you bring, Kyle Rondart?'

Fei Wong Reed watched from the glass's reflection as the slim man bowed, a constant smile stretching his lips, though it never seemed to reach his dark eyes.

-'I have located and brought you the man you have been searching for,' Kyle replied, straightening up. 'But, he has refused to give me his real name.'

-'Oh? And what does he call himself at the moment?'

-'Taka Shiryoku, sir.'

He gave a small laugh. _Hawk Sight_… Interesting enough.

-'That does not matter at the moment. Bring him in.'

Kyle bowed once more and exited the room.

It wasn't that it didn't matter; it was just for the best if he was the only person to hold that man's name. Well, it applied if one believed in those kinds of myths and Fei Wong had always believed in those traditions. If he hadn't, well, he wouldn't be hiring this man. He wouldn't even be striving so hard for his brother Clow's company in the first place.

He turned to face the entrance just as a young man came into the room.

Though the lights were out in his office, the boy's vivid red kimono layered by black hakama pants stood out in the darkness. A _Kamishimo_ outfit without the haori jacket; it made Fei Wong smile knowingly as he recognized the traditional outfit of the _Senso-ji Budo_ practitioners, emphasized by the fact that the boy carried a _yumi_ in his hand, the Japanese bow standing at the same height as him. But, he knew that it wasn't the boy's only weapon…

-'Your kind has been around for many eras now. No thanks to the fact that, your ninja clan has always been hidden within the walls of a revered Buddhist Temple,' he smiled broadly at the young monk's impassiveness to his words and gave a short laugh before moving on. 'I have need of your services. Yours in particular since, you come from a special bloodline.'

He paused, starring up at the young man, waiting to see if he had anything to say, but he remained cool, his face a dead pan mask of stoic perfection.

-'Taka Shiryoku? What a fitting name for you and your ancestors…

There is a young boy in this city that possesses the Second Sight. He also has a bloodline trait. Watanuki Kimihiro is his name. Where he is exactly, I do not know since certain people made sure he conveniently disappear. He has become even harder to track down recently, since Winter I should say.

Your bloodline is famed in the most silent parts of our World as having a kin eye for magical beings and those who can see them. My wish is to have this boy's life ended, he stands in the way, though probably unknowingly, of a bigger desire that I have held for quite some time.'

At last, his soon to be assassin spoke up in a monotonous, deep voice.

-'You want me to kill a boy who can see the Other World?'

-'Is there a problem with that?'

A dark shadow passed over the young monk's eyes before he spoke again.

-'No.'

-'Then, you can begin tonight.'

He bowed his head in approval, ready to exit the room just as Fei Wong spoke up with a sly smile.

-'Will you not give me your name?'

-'Taka Shiryoku.'

-'No, you're true name.'

-'That is unnecessary,' the boy said, flashing him a stern look. 'Our contract does not necessitate such a bond.'

-'I see'

He watched as the man walked out into the bright hallway, shutting the door behind himself.

Fei Wong returned to his desk, the city momentarily forgotten as he stared down at a picture of the young monk that had just left his office, a small paragraph beneath alluding to his abilities and traits.

-'I may not be able to practice magic,' he spoke up, 'but I can run enough background information to find out your true name, Taka Shiryoku. It is so little, the amount of things that cannot be found now a day…'

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Outside 'Fei Reed enterprises', Shizuka Domeki stood still in the empty alley way, his bow now slung over his shoulder together with his box of quivers.

Was this what his grandfather had spoken about before he died?

If so, then it was time for him to contact that person, and perhaps, she even had the young boy Fei Wong Reed had spoken of.

He sniffed at the light Spring air before lifting his arm up over his head and giving a short but loud whistle.

A shift in the wind made him look up as a falcon cut through the air with its scythe like wings and landed on his gloved arm.

Shizuka lowered him to eye level and pulled out a small scroll from his sash, tying it to its leg.

-'Take this to the person named Yuuko Ichihara,' he instructed, releasing the bird into the air once more.

He kept starring up at the sky even after his bird of prey dissipated into the night. He closed his eyes and lifted his left arm to cover his left eye and opened them once more. It was still there, his connection with the bird; the city looked dizzying from above, but brighter and somewhat sharper than normal.

It was a good sign.

When the bird finds that woman, he will be able to track her down with ease.

He turned and sniffed again at the Spring air, starting to walk towards a larger street, scattered with few pedestrians, the smell of Oden getting stronger until he came to a halt in front of a stand called 'The Fox's Oden'. A coincidence…?

-'Welcome honorable monk,' the cook, a man in his late thirties said with a reverent bow and a genuine smile.

-'Good evening,' Shizuka replied, taking a seat and watching as the man proceeded to chop and stir vegetables.

-'You look a lot like a man that used to come years ago to my Oden shop. He was dressed the same as well,' the oden shop owner conversed, looking up with thoughtful eyes at Shizuka.

The young monk was momentarily surprised at the coincidence that he would be speaking to the same man who used to serve his grandfather, but then shook it off, remembering that in this World, there really were no such things as coincidences. Only fate…

-'My grandfather always spoke fondly of 'The Fox's Oden' everytime he returned from a trip to Tokyo,' the boy replied, sipping at the herbal tea the man had put in front of him.

-'Ah yes, Haruka Domeki was a faithful customer.'

As the man pulled back his hand, the sleeve of his blue kimono shifted a little to reveal the mark of someone that had been touched by a magical being. A swirling pattern was tattooed on his wrist, blind to common people. Perhaps even to the owner himself.

He thought it over, wondering who had done it and for what purpose. Those kinds of marks were usually used to seal off Fox Spirits.

He looked back up and the man looked him straight in the eye, expectantly.

Shizuka looked back down and frowned. A good sign among others of knowing if a person was possessed by a _kitsune _was their aversion to eye contact.

And yet, this man had no problems making eye contact.

-'Here, this used to be Haruka Domeki's favorite dish,' the man said, placing a bowl of fish cakes and assorted vegetables floating in miso soup in front of him.

The re-mentioning of his grandfather's name brought a whirlwind of thoughts into the monk's mind, pulling him back towards his earlier worries.

He stared hard at the steaming bowl in front of him.

Watanuki Kimihiro, the boy with the Second Sight his grandfather had warned him about…even after all these years of meditating; he still hadn't decided what he would do about him.

-'Thank you for the food.'

To Be Continued…

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**Author's note:** Ah yeah…it was too tempting to mention the Nine tailed fox from Naruto…dunno why Oh well, but from here on out, I guess I'll be mixing up different manga's into this story…

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading


	3. Watanuki vs Sensoji, Act III

Burlesque 3:

**Disclaimer: **I don't own xxxholic or x1999 or Basilsk, nor its characters. Those belong to CLAMP and Masaki Segawa respectfully. And…CLAMP is owned by CLAMP…it'll make sense..just read on…

**Summary:** Flying psychic ninjas??

Watanuki brought his hand instinctively to his nose. He wrinkled his brows and felt the slight tensing of muscles as the tingling grew so much it was almost painful. His eyes shut before the fateful moment.

-'Bless you and bless you!' Sorata intoned as a response to the two sneezes, lifting his ceramic cup of sake and draining it in one shot before slamming it back down with a satiated sigh and a smile. 'Ah…the sake's good tonight.'

Watanuki straightened up, relieved by the sneezes.

-'Thank you, Sorata-san,' he said with a small bow and a gentle smile, taking the cup away and fetching the sake bottle from the cabinet.

This time, instead of the small, white cylindrical sake cup, Watanuki put down a hand sized wooden box made of cypress, and filled it to bream with the clear liquor.

-'Using a _masu_ eh! You are too kind!'

-'Its only natural Sorata-san, you are our most faithful customer.' This, to Watanuki's opinion, hinted painstakingly to a certain young woman who performed at the bar on some nights and the man's infatuation with her. Arashi Kishu was, after all, a very beautiful woman.

-'Not to mention that tonight is a special occasion, Yuuko-san will be doing _that_ dance…' As he finished his sentence, Sorata took a sip of the liquor, his upbeat smile never fading.

Watanuki nodded in agreement, though he still felt a little confused by this special occasion.

His eyes swiped over the room, already filling up with rich business men and even a few women dressed in traditional kimonos. They were expensive kimonos too; Watanuki could tell from the way the textile moved with the person that it was silk and not the common cotton or synthetic fabrics he saw in second hand shops. The room was a sight with these elegant women and their colorful kimonos of pale blues and rosy pinks. Their designs of spring sceneries fit so well with the brocaded walls, it made the eye swoon.

Sakura trees in full bloom were painted on the walls and stage, their fluttering petals turning to swallow tail butterflies of deep blue and ochre gold as they floated off with an imaginary breeze. The leaden silver chandeliers that hung from the ceiling were ornate with bands of ribbons the same color as cherry tree petals, the lit candles bleeding pale wax into small, butterfly shaped dishes. The second source of light came from white paper lanterns lining the sides of the grand salon, nine to each wall, the designs alternating between fierce dragons and crescent moons.

He even caught a glance of himself in the reflection of a gold crested mirror, dressed up in British Victorian age clothes, all in black with a top hat and petit coat over his white, impeccable chemise. His dragon crested cane was resting against the stainless steal refrigerator to his left.

He sighed at this other Watanuki; Yuuko-san loved playing dress up with her favorite man servant.

-'Eh…but I wonder who is talking about Watanuki-kun…'

The young bartender was pulled out of his analytics by Sorata's teasing thoughtfulness. 'Ah! Is it a girl?'

Watanuki flailed his hands in denial, dropping the dish towel he had been holding with his spastic quirks.

-'No, no, no…Wait, what do you mean, Sorata-san?'

-'Well, usually when you sneeze and you're perfectly healthy, it means that someone is talking about you or mentioning your name,' the joyful young customer explained, but then darkened his expression. 'But, it would've been good if it had only been once. Since you sneezed twice in a row, it means that someone is talking bad behind your back…'

A knot formed in Watanuki's stomach as he bent to pick up the dish towel, unease chocking him.

-'Sorata-san…Don't say such things,' he commented wearily with a forced smile, though the bile in his chest was making it hard to even breathe. His light weight mood seemed to have darkened at the man's words and he couldn't understand why but, nothing good ever came of it.

Sorata was about to retort when a smooth voice filled the room, echoing against the walls and bringing silence to the audience. Watanuki recognized Yuuko's mystifying tone downing the ear to a slumberous spell that no one could help but fall into.

-'There are indefinite things in this World that remain unexplained. No matter how strange it is, Mankind will always observe it. It will always be so with Mankind. _But it is the imagination…but it is the past…_Person, Mankind, People. People are the World's strangest creatures.'

The room had darkened without his noticing it, the only light remaining was from the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling above the stage, and beneath that light was Yuuko-san draped over an antique violet fainting couch adorned with thousands of silvery butterflies that seemed to flutter with the shifting of shadows. She took a long drag from her wooden Kiseru pipe, the end of it crested with gold engravings, and exhaled a long tendril of pale smoke, arching her neck towards the open sky, staring with blank, maroon eyes as faint instruments of a foreign origin begun to emanate strange lilting sounds from every corner of the room, enmeshing Watanuki's senses to the point where he momentarily forgot where he was, his eyes seemingly accepting the fact that a thin mist of incense smoke had risen from the wooden floor boards, filling the room with a soft scent of fresh pine needles and bouquets of lavender and peppermint.

Yuuko traced the hems of her ashen blue kimono, already falling at the shoulders and parting at the hip where her elongated legs crossed over each other, and placed a hand on the white fan stretched out along her side and opened it in one swift flick of her arm. It spread like the magnificent tail of an albino peacock, shielding her body as she stood up from the couch, her kimono falling in a heap of silk at her feet. He gaped in astounded shock as she begun to twirl and coil with grace, putting the tendrils of smoke to shame without ever revealing more skin than she intended to, bringing her pace to a nauseating swiftness as the music became more pronounced, the tempo ascending until it drowned all possible sense into chaos and abruptly halted as Yuuko's fan clattered to the ground with a flurry of a hundred monarch butterflies where the Witch had been standing mere seconds ago.

It took Watanuki a minute to come to his senses just as the crowd applauded, trepidations of excited whispers filling the now clear air as the butterflies fluttered out from the open roof, a few straying on the walls and rims of half drained glasses. He felt sapped and uplifted in the strangest of ways, still sunken in half a daze as he walked to the heavy oak doors and pushed them open for the people to start filling out.

-'A great performance as always….'; 'Nothing less from the great Yuuko…'; 'Even after all these years, she hasn't lost her grace or beauty…'; 'Yuuko…'; 'Yuuko…'

He shook his head and bowed as their customers exited the house, all submersed in their own whispered praises of Yuuko.

He felt light headed, as though the smoke had some how penetrated through his pores and filled up his lungs and head to a gentle bream, spilling out every time he tried to regain his senses. Questions begun to tug at his thoughts; how had Yuuko suddenly disappeared? As much as he twirled the question around in his mind, he couldn't recall the moment she had actually vanished.

-'True to her name; Yuuko the Sorceress of Men,' Sorata complimented.

Watanuki glanced up. When had he made it back to the bar? He glanced about the almost vacant room, momentarily confused. It only made Sorata laugh.

-'I see you were victimized by her talent,' he cheered, smiling fondly at Watanuki as the young bartender flicked a hand in annoyance and scolded, much to Sorata's amusement.

-'What? Nah! To me, she's still an egocentric drunkard. Too demanding and lazy…'

-'Too bad she only performs it once a year, for the First Day of Spring. A good time to release the butterflies as well I suppose, the weather has been good to us,' the customer sighed with content, shining light upon Watanuki's earlier skepticism for the fancy clothing and decorations.

-'That's right! Today is March 20th! So that's why…' he glared as he picked up Sorata's empty _masu_. 'That Witch could've warned me…'

-'First day of Spring…' Sorata repeated immersed in his thoughts as he stood up from his high chair and leaned against the bar table. 'It has been a while. How long have you been working here already?'

Watanuki shot him a surprised glance, his eyebrows raised then furrowed.

-'Since winter, so I would say three months, more or less.'

-'Anywhere near completely paying off Yuuko's vase?'

-'Not even,' the young boy replied, a dismissive sigh escaping his lips as he rounded the bar and started fetching glasses from the round tables in the salon. By now, the room was empty and quiet, their words echoing ominously over the armchairs and decrypt furniture.

Watanuki slithered between them, pilling glasses on his tray and reaching the stage to gather Yuuko's kimono; the thin fabric was like running water in his hand.

-'By the way, I got the information you asked me for the other day.'

Sorata joined Watanuki at the front of the room and pulled out a small square of paper from his pocket, straightening out its creases. 'The _Senso-ji_ Buddhist temple, that's where you met Yuuko-san and the 'Jack of all trades' from the Shinto Shrine near there.'

-'_Senso-ji_…'

-'Yeah, the temple has a funny history too,' the young man continued, scratching the back of his neck in a fit of nervous laughter. 'They say that the Shrine, Asakusa, is there as worship grounds for three men who founded the _Senso-ji _Buddhist temple. But, my informants say it's a cover up story to hide a darker secret.' At those words, Sorata lowered his voice, though Watanuki was unsure if it was unintentional, or aimed at a more dramatic effect. He couldn't help leaning closer though, intrigued by this. 'See, the time the Temple was constructed coincides with the persecution of shinobi by the imperial forces who thought their ways were treacherous and dishonorable, especially in the face of the Samurai code of honor which forbade underhanded tactics and espionage…'

-'But, samurais were the ones who hired ninjas…why would they want to persecute them?'

-'It was a tactic for them to evade public shame. Even if they were all doing it, they still didn't have the face to admit it. Sometimes, they even put ninja clans against one another in feuds to resolve succession disputes amongst themselves. Like the Kouga Iga love story…'

Watanuki was thrown off by this sudden turn. 'The what…?'

-'It was a big blood feud between the Kouga Ninja clan and the Iga ninja clan! In the midst of all that hate spun the love between Gennosuke Kouga and Oboro Iga! It's epic, you've never heard of it?'

-'No…'

-'I must lend you the manga version then. Anyways, so, because of the persecution, most clans went into hiding within the mountains of Kyoto. They were also hunted for their religious beliefs in Buddhism. And that's where the _Senso-ji_ temple comes into play. You see, the story goes that two brothers, fishermen, found a statue of boasatsu Kannon, the Bodhisattvas of Compassion, during one of their fishing trips in the river and were swoon into Buddhism by a rich man who found out about their discovery and they begun their construction on the temple.

People think that was too fast of a change and instead, rumors have somewhat spread, though their not taken seriously, that the two brothers were actually Buddhist rogue ninjas searching for a refuge and that a wealthy man provided them the alibi and money to build themselves a temple and hide their small clan within it.'

-'Oh...'

-'An even rarer rumor says that the man did it because it was of high importance for those two ninjas to not be captured and killed.'

Watanuki frowned. 'Why is that?'

-'Because it was said that they were expert Exorcists and that they possessed a bloodline trait that allowed them to see the other World…like a Second Sight.'

The knot returned with a vengeance to Watanuki's stomach, a leaden coil tightening around his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. Color drained from him, warmth vanishing beneath waves of cold stupor.

-'How…how did you find all this out…Sorata-san?' Watanuki asked, trying to distract himself.

-'Didn't I tell you? I was raised by the Shingon Buddhist at the Toji Temple in Kyoto. I asked them and they gave me the information and beyond,' Sorata proclaimed with a wide smile.

The young bartended regarded his informant with a weary eye, looking from his short cropped black hair to the mischievous glint in his brown eyes down to his stiff dark suit. He wasn't sure what prompted him the next query that fell from his trembling lips.

-'Arisugawa-san, why were you raised by Buddhist monks?' Was it possible that Sorata was like him, an orphan boy?

He seemed taken aback by the sudden use of his first name but answered none the less with a smile.

-'My parents died in an accident when I was a boy.'

-'I'm sorry…'

-'It's alright; it was a long time ago.'

-'I shouldn't have asked, I apologize…'

-'Don't,' Sorata cut in, his face glinting with warmth. 'It's not taboo. And, it doesn't hurt so much anymore. After all, my parents wouldn't have wanted for me to cease existing.'

Watanuki forced a smile, even if inside, he was still recoiling with despair. His parents wouldn't have wanted him to stop living either, but it was so hard sometimes, to keep going, especially because of his burden…

-'Oh, by the way, how come you needed to know the name of the temple, don't you remember where you met Yuuko-san?'

-'I forget things sometimes,' the boy replied curtly. There was more to it than that though. It wasn't just sometimes anymore, the amount of things he had been forgetting were pilling in number much to quickly for his liking. It scared him; it was as though he were gradually vanishing into oblivion.

Sorata glanced down at his watch and gave a start, rubbing his neck. It seemed to be a nervous tick of his Watanuki observed.

-'So late already! I have to go,' he said with an apologetic smile. 'It was great talking with you tonight Watanuki-san, let's see each other again!'

-'Yes, I look forward to it,' the boy said, watching him exit the house through the great oak doors.

Watanuki let out a breath he hadn't been aware of holding in. He made his way back to the bar in slow, careless steps, his mind lingering on their conversation.

_Senso-ji_ Buddhist temple; mystical home of an evasive ninja clan, thinking on it now, it seemed absurd in a way…

-'Rumors will always be just that…silly rumors…' It wasn't possible, especially now a day, with all the media and technology, and with so many things being unraveled and analyzed, that an ancient group of Buddhist psychic ninjas could remain hidden in the shadows for this long.

Hot breath blew at the nape of his neck, throwing his spine into a fit of shivers.

-'Is that so, Watanuki-kun?'

He jumped into the air, beyond startled as Yuuko laughed, pointing in amusement at Watanuki's desperate attempts to keep the glasses from falling out of the tray.

-'Yuuko-san! You shouldn't sneak up on people unexpectedly!' he shouted in reprimand, fuming like a nervous bull as he stomped his way to the bar and deposited the tray with a sigh of relief.

-'But its fun…' she mused with an exaggerated pout, leaning against the bar, her long tendrils of black hair caressing the top of her bare feet.

Tonight, she had discarded any formal or semi-formal kimonos for a pair of shorts and silk chemise, shifting comfortably against her pale skin. 'Mokona,' she said in a conspicuous voice, caressing a small porcelain sculpture of a black creature at the right hand corner of the counter Watanuki hadn't been able, as of yet, to place in any sort of logical species. It _looked_ like a mammal. 'Mokona, it's a perfect night for salted squid and sake, wouldn't you agree…'

-'You know, if you want me to cook, you can just ask me and stop speaking to that strange creature…' he grumbled, moving behind the counter to place the glasses in the dishwasher. That thing had always given him the creeps. It seemed to smirk at him sometimes when he moved at certain angles. It felt strange.

Yuuko clapped in overexcited glee, her smile getting so big her eyes shut. 'Then make us some stuffed sweet bell peppers as well, and Western pastries for dessert, strawberry tartlets with sweet plum wine!'

-'I am NOT a mail order cook! And why are you speaking in plural terms?!' he scolded, brandishing a dish towel in her direction. 'And strawberries aren't even in season yet!'

-'That's not true; strawberries don't have a season to grow.'

-'They're summer fruits because they need the sun to ripen!' he countered, outraged by her theatrical pout and matter-of-fact tone.

-'You're talking about 'June-bearing' strawberries; I'm speaking of 'Ever-bearing' strawberries.'

-'What kind of a faerie tale is that?!'

She straightened up with a devilish smirk, making her way to the upper landing of the house. He followed her movements, fuming in anger at her escape from the argument, ready to give a retort when he caught sight of something unusual from the corner of his eye. He fixed his gaze on a portrait of a young man above the doorway.

Unconsciously, he walked towards it, inexplicably drawn until he could make out the details of it. The man was draped in a haori and hakama pants, his head tilted to the outside of the picture with a glare and a smile, a Japanese bow resting at his feet.

-'This is new…' he breathed in half a daze.

Tendrils of smoke seemed to have lingered on its framing. Watanuki glared, suspicious at them.

He closed his left eye and saw that the smoke had vanished. He then opened his left and shut the right. His fears were confirmed, it wasn't an ordinary portrait.

-'It is, I found it in a drawer of mine,' Yuuko explained with a smile. 'He used to come to CLAMP years ago. Quite the charmer, that Haruka Doumeki, even with those stoic eyes of his.'

-'Was he a monk?'

-'Why do you ask?' Her tone had shifted once more from childish, to all knowing, deepening in decibels, the words spoken slowly as if each had an importance of its own to carry out.

-'Well, his clothes and the bow. Also, behind him…that looks like a temple…or a shrine…'

She gave a short laugh, though that too was shrouded in seriousness. 'Mmm…yes, Doumeki was a monk from the _Senso-ji _Buddhist temple East of Tokyo city. Remember? That's where we first met.'

He was about to retort that of course he hadn't forgotten, but held back his tongue, knowing that that in itself, would be an outright lie.

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**Author's note:** Long much? Hehe! I'm glad it is though, and hope you guys are too…

Mmm…by the way, _Senso-ji_ is an actual Buddhist temple North East of Tokyo and it was founded by two fishermen brothers converted to Buddhism by a wealthy man but…that whole thing about flying psychic ninjas…I made that up…lol…

Oh..and yes…Watanuki can only see supernatural things with his left eye. It gets explained soon…parallel to his memory gaps…

And…CLAMP is the name of Yuuko's burlesque bar. Yup…

Thank you for reading and possibly reviewing, it always makes me happy to hear opinions!


	4. The Dragon's vein vs Sakura's Tree

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from xxxholic or Full Metal Alchemist.

**Summary: **I guess its time I explain this. Yes, this fanfic will crossover and have cameo appearances of characters from other mangas, their storylines will intermingle…its all part of my evil plan _.

So, you will scarcely find any characters that I will have invented on my own…because I'm lazy and I figured that I have a thousand characters at my disposal…I hope you like it!

Oh, and I wanted to say thank you to the following people for adding my story to their alerts:

pockylover123

chibi tsuki hikari

Miyo Yukimora

Jio-chan

and Thimble for your wonderful reviews.

Thank you, its a real booster ^_^.

**The Dragon's Vein vs. Sakura's Tree. **

Swirling patterns came together, interlocking with each other to make elaborate designs of anonymous faces and intricate battle scenes on a paper white background. Staring up at the ceiling, it was like playing cloud games, shaping them to ones own amusement and imagination.

Watanuki didn't just see faces though; he saw outstretched claws for hands, disembodied figures with too long limbs, masked facades of multifaceted eyes and smoky essence. They seemed to move with the bluish moonlight streaming in from his window, in a strange dance of their own muse and sounds.

His imagination was too broad; perhaps he had seen too many things, definitely more than the average human.

He reached out a hand, touching the soft skin over his closed right eye, deep in thought.

No, there was nothing to see beyond blue skies and darkened asphalt, neither behind reflective windows nor broken mirrors.

He opened his right eye and shut the left one and the World was back to the way it was supposed to be; stable. _Normal_.

He shifted to the right, turning away from the ceiling to stare out the window veiled by a translucent curtain.

It was late, passed midnight by now. Yuuko-san had yet again insisted that he remain in her home or shop or bar, he wasn't sure what to call it anymore.

Monsters patrolled the streets at night, Yurei hung on the edges of houses, hands reached out through the reflection of shadows, turning to ominous claws as they neared their prey. Yuuko believed in Folk tales that claimed night time as belonging to the dark side of our World.

He tightened his grip on the edge of the futon, vein pulsing and brows furrowing in frustration. It wasn't as if he were some _damsel_ in distress, or little Red Ridding Hood stalked by a drooling wolf. Well, the latter part he wasn't too sure about, but he was definitely not in distress.

His parents were watching over him after all…weren't they? Even if he had forgotten their names and faces, their shared moments, they could still be real to him right…because in theory he knew he had had parents. He believed with all his heart they had loved him and there would be proof of that…if he could remember how they had lived and died.

Drifting off to sleep, Watanuki closed his eyes, submitting to the weariness until a clatter snapped him back to wakefulness.

The door had been pulled open, a light breeze sipping in from the gardens, making the curtain dance like a demented spirit.

Watanuki sat up, clutching the fabric of his shirt over his pounding heart. He waited a few minutes until his nerves had calmed down and ensured there was no real threat before padding towards the doorway.

But, instead of closing it he crossed the threshold, leaning against the door frame neither in the house, nor outside.

-'You shouldn't stand in the _in-betweens_. Nasty things hide there.'

The sudden male voice made him jump back and fall hard onto the wooden floor, mouth agape in mid scream.

-'I'm sorry; I didn't mean to frighten you.' A hand was trust to Watanuki with a reassuring smile.

He took it, sitting up and re arranging his robe before looking back up at the monk garbed in a deep green kimono, different from his attire in the picture.

-'Haruka Doumeki?' Watanuki inquired shyly as the man took to stand on the patio porch, arms crossed over his chest, a stream of thin smoke whirling from the tip of his cigarette as he stared down at Watanuki with a smile.

-'I see She told you about me.'

-'Yuuko…san?'

Instead of answering the question, Haruka extended once more his hand to Watanuki. 'We must go somewhere; tonight isn't safe for you here.'

The boy frowned at the strange phrasing, blue eyes scanning over the monk before him, hand still outstretched, waiting patiently. He looked over Yuuko's ornate garden, the iron fence picketed with crescent moons, the sky above darker than usual because of the moon's absence and looked back at Haruka. 'This is a dream….' It was more a statement than a query, but Haruka confirmed it anyways.

-'Indeed it is.'

Hesitantly, he took the man's hand and stood up, his surroundings blurring with the sudden motion. When he had settled, they were no longer on Yuuko's porch, but standing beneath a Sakura Tree, its branches weighted down by a mound of cherry blossoms. But, when a small wind blew, what it carried with it weren't the normal pink petals, but a myriad of white feathers with a thin swirl of pink at its center. He held his hand out and caught on in his long fingers, looking up at Haruka with questioning bafflement.

-'It is Sakura's Tree,' the man explained, staring up at the dark sky dotted with millions of white feathers. 'A holy tree with the will to protect.'

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The earth rumbled beneath his feet, a sensation choking the breath out of Shizuka. He backed into the temple he had taken refuge in, his grip tightening around the bow in his hand, wincing slightly at the sensation. Amidst the discord, he closed his eyes, relaxing his mind before opening them once more. This time, his right eye discerned a flash of purple light breaking the still darkness of the night. But, just as it had appeared, it vanished along with the earthquake and the sensation.

Releasing the bow, he walked to the porch and scanned over the garden cast with strange dancing shadows.

It was no use venturing out now; it would be reckless and pointless in the night. He turned back into the temple and slid the door shut behind him.

Morning would bring more answers.

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Yuuko watched as a purple axis alighted the sky, the grounds within the fence barely trembling, though she could still feel a small wave of the ki that had suddenly burst to life.

-'So it happened, the Dragon's Vein, the flow of ki within the Earth, has awakened…' she murmured, eyes half lidded as she watched the purple dissipate and the sky return to its night shade.

She turned away from the gardens and walked back into the house. She had had to reinforce the barrier around her shop, but even with that, Watanuki would've been in danger if his soul had remained within the shop. His location would've surely been revealed.

She glanced sideways at the Hawk that had nestled at the edge of a low table; gold eyes fixated on the dark sky and pulled out a small note from her sleeve. The note the bird had brought to her.

It contained no explanations, or writings for that matter. But, she needed neither as the crest of two arrows crossing over each other spoke more to her than words. Just like Haruka Doumeki, the boy was more of direct and blunt actions than of fanciful letterings.

-'Shizuka…Doumeki…' she muttered with a smile.

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Shizuka shifted, blinking away morning light before rising from his makeshift bed, the feeling from the night still fresh in his mind and body.

He had come to the temple the Monks at Senso-ji had told him about, the abandoned building rotting away as dust clung to all the furniture, doors half falling in on themselves. But it was nothing compared to the gardens, defecated by decades of neglect and worn down with the passing of the seasons. He could still see soggy autumn leaves rotting on the Shrines surface, and they were in Spring.

He ventured out onto that garden, passed the shrine and towards the dense forestry standing like a sentry around the temple.

He had to find out if his suspicions were true. And what damage last nights night lighting had ensued…

It felt like an hour had passed before he reached the temple's cemetery.

What seemed to be intricate decorations on the walls delimiting the cemetery's perimeter, upon closer inspection, were actually customary chants engraved onto the walls for the soul purpose of protecting the inside from the threats of the outside.

A kekkai.

He frowned, deep in thought. Something was off about it. The three crescent moons that stood over the arching gate were rotted away. They still stood, even if it wasn't normal for them to be shading away with rust. He glanced down, knowing already what he would find there.

The primary kekkai barrier that had been etched on the ground was supposed to be one of the strongest. The sun with its wavering rays was not just carved bluntly onto the surface, but the lines that made it up were also chants that interlocked with each other, forming an even stronger barrier of its own. Without having to look, he knew that opposite from the sun, on the other end of the cemetery, a moon would be carved with similar chants delineating it. Connecting it all was an array of five stars circulating the walls, making a total of Seven astronomical bodies.

But, just as he had deducted from the rusting Archway and Moons, and the poor state of the Temple, the Primary Kekkai had been broken.

A crack in the earth broke apart the natural flow of chants, bringing the kekkai to an abrupt end.

He passed over it and walked under the three crescent moons, the faltering of their glow deepening his scowl. Without the protection of the outer Ward, time had finally taken a toll on the iron and its efficacy.

A creeping silence reigned over the grounds, barely broken by the sounds of shifting branches and whistling breeze. The burial grounds extended over a large perimeter, the landscape broken by the erect tombs symmetrically placed along each other, lining blunt, stone stairways and wooden bridges. The forest was mostly made up of pine trees, though on specific locations in these woods, Nine Sacred Trees were scattered as another protective barrier, each retaining its own task and properties. Though, it was obvious that without proper care, that barrier too, had lost most of its power. He couldn't help but wonder, with the importance these Burial Grounds held, why was it that it had been abandoned for so long without anyone noticing?

He came to a stop at one of the many crossroads in the cemetery and looked left to right. His calculating eyes followed the path embedded with stones weaving through the graves; this entire Burial Ground was a labyrinth, dating back to the times when the Miko of this particular Temple used to perform the Maze Dance to banish evil spirits, summon ancestors and see visions of events to come. It was more of a graceful procession from one end of the cemetery to another, each major crossroad representing one of the Nine Sacred Trees and their properties related to the Other World.

However, recent decades and the passing of old traditions into mere legends and ghost tales had reduced those practices to the point of non-existence. This was the end result.

He stared down at the center of the crossroad, discerning the small engraving of an Apple Tree; the key which opens the door to the Otherworld. Adjacent to it was one of the last tombstones to have been added to the Burial Grounds, the stone still smooth and gleaming in the little morning light that penetrated through the trees.

He knelt in front of it, his hand doubtfully hovering over the earth, a frown deepening the creasing of his eyebrows. Something wasn't right, even if he couldn't see it, he could feel it.

Drawing a small pouch from his obi sash, he withdrew a small amethyst stone shaped like a pyramid and placed its point over the grave.

He drew back in a flash as the soil collapsed abruptly, his gemstone tumbling down a deep gaping black hole. The grave had been robbed of its corpse.

He looked up at the name carved into the tombstone.

-'Edward Elric…Alchemist…'

He frowned.

At his temple, the Monks had a strong belief that when a person with particularly strong gifts died, their body retained that knowledge, especially if their power derived from seals, because even if the mind was no longer there to recall, the body remembered. Though at his temple, bodies were usually cremated because of that belief. However, here, in respect and memory of those gifted people, their bodies under went preservation rites to withstand the trials of time. Hence, the strong barrier.

It was just a belief but still…someone had gone through the trouble of robbing the temple of any Keeper to make sure the barrier weakened in preparation for the moment it would break.

That moment had been last night.

And, the only reason for someone to steal Edward Elric's body was for his deepened knowledge in Alchemy and creating a Philosopher's Stone.

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(to be continued...)

Thank you for reading! Please review and offer your opinions, it always helps!


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